At the Shala, we study and practice systems like Ayurveda, and various forms of Yoga. In order to understand these things, we are required to grapple with the sacred cosmologies that produced them, despite the general modern ignorance and/or distrust of the metaphysics they instantiate. These cosmologies generate specific theories concerning essential things like the nature and causes of suffering, the self, and the potential pathologies that accompany its misunderstanding to name a few.